The Tempest

 Sunday Stamps on Monday...

This week's theme is Fatherly Figures. I chose a stamp from Royal Mail that features a line from the Shakespeare play The Tempest, thought to be one of the last he penned. This stamp was part of a set issued in 2016 to mark the 400th anniversary of the Bard's death.

The main character is Prospero, a father. And Shakespeare was a father himself, and can be considered a father of English writing.

For more links to stamps with this theme, head over to See it on a Postcard.

Sunday Stamps on New Year's Day

 The theme today is archaeology, and you can see more stamps on this topic via the links at Sunday Stamps.

Royal Mail issued a set of stamps last year to mark the 100th anniversary of the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb by archaeologist Howard Carter. Luckily for me, as they are a beautiful and vibrant set, I received one of the stamps on a postcard.

Joy has the full set on display today if you'd like to see more.

Happy new year, everyone!

Wallace and Gromit

 From Royal Mail's 2010 Christmas issue - one of my favorites. 

For links to more secular Christmas stamps, please visit Sunday Stamps.

S is for Shackleton's Safe Arrival

In 2016 Royal Mail released a set of stamps about polar explorer Ernest Shackleton and the crew of the Endurance. This voyage, the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, saw the Endurance trapped in sea ice, at which point the crew camped on the ice until they could make their escape in lifeboats after the ice broke up. They traveled to Elephant Island, and finally South Georgia - an incredible 720 nautical mile journey of survival at sea.

I received the stamp showing the expedition's safe arrival at Elephant Island. 

There are 7 more stamps in the set, and they are all based on photographs taken by the official photographer of the expedition, Frank Hurley. Here they are on a first day cover with a very nice postmark.

For more super stamps with an S theme, explore the links at Sunday Stamps.

Christmas on Sunday Stamps

Royal Mail issued a very nice set of Christmas stamps this year featuring postboxes.

I have received one of them this year, although it was sadly disfigured by the dreaded biro.

There are a couple of countries that issued some stamps that I like (and will certainly never receive).

From Norway, this wonderful 3D scene. [Eva, it made me think of you :) ]

And this really unusual and, to me, outstanding ones from Luxembourg. They are titled Mr Winter Joy and Mrs Ice Crystal. I can only imagine the outcry if these were issued in the US :)

For more Christmas postage, check out the links at Sunday Stamps. And have yourself a great Christmas!

Farewell to the Year of the Monkey

Heleen sent this lovely ATC...

It is the final day of the year of the fire monkey, and therefore my mail art call is now officially closed. You can see the mail art received on the blog.

Almost everyone who sent me a piece of art received this card that I designed:

For the people who sent in more than one piece, and when I ran out of the monkey postcards, I did send some other items that I have not shown yet.

To Eric, envelope 144. With thanks to Scott for mailing it for me from the UK.

To Ti Ar Raden, a flier from an art gallery.

To Eva, a paper plate monkey. Pictures are from her blog, as I forgot to snap a picture of him before he left. He arrived complete, with a bit of a sore ear.

Secular Christmas Sunday Stamp from Stripygoose

This Royal Mail stamp on an envelope from stripygoose is one of the set that celebrates traditional holiday activities.

The yellow one scans well, but looks a bit insipid in person. My favorite from the set is the snowman on the 2nd class stamp.

And here are the other two birds stripygoose sent ;)

Animail to Stripygoose

2B or not 2B, what is this mail art?

I haven't been all that active with mail art recently, so I was surprised and intrigued to find this unsolicited and unexpected package arrive from Gü. I love the Shakespeare stamp from Royal Mail that commemorates the 400th anniversary of his death. And there's even Shakespeare washi tape!

So much Shakespearian stuff! I encourage you to enlarge the picture and check it all out. The pencil alone is amazing. And the fine collage work on the Richard Burton is a marvel.

Ssssssunday Ssssstampssssss - shapessssss

I love the Animail sssset of ssssstampsssss that Royal Mail issued recently. I arranged to sssssend one to Ssssscott in Hounsssslow:

For more fun shapessssss visit Ssssunday Sssstampssss.

Royal Mail 500

Today Royal Mail is issuing a set of stamps celebrating 500 years of mail service in Britain. The service was started by Henry VIII (much more famous for his eight wives). Of course, as the name implies, this was just for the Sovereign for over a century until Charles the First opened it up to the public in 1635.

There is a great site here with an interactive timeline showing the development of the postal service in the UK. Lots to investigate!

Royal Mail's self service kiosks are also issuing Post and Go labels with this theme today, looking at mail delivery from the 1600s to the 1900s. 

There's also a miniature sheet showing classic GPO (General Post Office) posters.

These are fun, but the top right isn't the most mail art-friendly message :)

Royal Mail is also celebrating the 175th anniversary of the issue of the penny red, which replace the penny black. These stamps will be issued tomorrow.

Starling Wars - The Birds Awaken

Stripy goose sent me this fantastic piece of mail art.

It was too big to fit through the letter box... and either Royal Mail or USPS had done a great job of keeping the stamps and mail together.

The back:

The Birds Awaken....

And a bonus card!

Thanks for the out of this world mail art!

Camels on Sunday Stamps

Today's Sunday Stamps theme is religion on Christmas stamps.

My favorite from USPS in recent years is the Christmas Magi stamp. How can you not enjoy seeing camels on stamps? And the colors are great. 

This stamp is the second in a series (two so far - maybe there'll be a third in 2016). Here's the first - the Holy Family Christmas stamp, issued in 2012 and reissued in 2013.

Not that I can use them, I do like the impressionist art of Royal Mail's Christmas stamps this year, particularly the camel on the £1.

And can I just add this creepiest of the creepy baby Jesus paintings on a stamp where he seems to be crushing a small bird in his hand? Very strange. I wonder what the symbolism is there....

Bonus update - incredible bee stamps from Royal Mail.

I do like the variety of US stamps, and there are some great designs, but I think that overall Royal Mail has, on average, the best commemorative stamps (Royal Mail calls them Special Stamps now) in the world.

Just look at these incredible Bees of Britain stamps that were issued today. I can only imagine what Jean or Smash could do to accompany these beauties.

The flowers the bees are collecting pollen or nectar from are also lovely and unusual - from top to bottom and left to right they are: Field Scabious, Bird's-foot Trefoil, Wild Carrot, Bilberry, Horseshoe Vetch, and Ground Ivy.

Royal Mail is also issuing this mini sheet that highlights honeybee behavior - also a fantastic set. I knew nothing about the 'waggle dance' of communication before seeing these.

Scott over at PositivelyPostal has announced a mail art call with the subject of Bees to tie in with this release.

Royal Mail has a great feature on these stamps with some huge images.

Bonus update - Google doodle's the 175th anniversary of the penny black

From the UK google site, quite an abstract doodle.

This event is also being celebrated by Royal Mail, which is issuing penny black and twopenny blue first class stamps.